Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. Credits: USA TODAY Sports

The Team USA has gotten together to prepare for the upcoming Olympics, and social media is buzzing with the videos of Avengers assembling. Interestingly, this made Kevin Garnett reminisce about his time with Team USA. On KG Certified, the NBA veteran talked about a special 1 on 1 drill he did in 2000. He also claimed that in the current team setup, LeBron James and Stephen Curry might outshoot the rest of the squad.

Paul Pierce asked the 15-time All-Star to talk about his 1 on 1 full-court drill before the 2000 Olympics. KG answered that it was actually Jason Kidd’s idea for conditioning, and they used to do it after their regular practice sessions,

“A lot of times, in 1 on 1, if I score on Paul, if Nate’s next, that little…30 seconds of Nate walking up, checking the ball, I can actually rest in that. So, to get our conditioning, we did a full court.”

Further, when Pierce asked who would prevail if the same drill happened among the current squad, KG believed that the chances of LeBron getting the better of every one were high. He said that King James is quick on his feet and if the plan is to stop him, the defender needs to meet him at half court.

Other than LBJ, KG said that Steph will be another one to beat his teammates in this game. He said, “Steph would be good because of his speed…If you have speed in that, you can get by…and then the pickup point.”

Despite a laid-out plan from the veteran, it won’t be an easy game. The 48-year-old explained that the intensity of those drills was evident from the fact that several fights erupted on the court in just three games. Regardless, the Big Ticket has already expressed his wish to see the current Team USA getting into the same intense practice ahead of the tournament.

Kevin Garnett wished to see one-on-one matchups in the Team USA camp

As a veteran, who brought gold for his country in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, KG wants Team USA to do the same thing. Considering they would likely end up winning gold in Paris, KG expressed another wish of witnessing the stars play one-on-one battles. A few days ago, he posted on his IG story,

“I kinda want to see this year’s [Olympians] plays one’s. Who’s winning that one?”

Even though the NBA veteran wants Team USA to do the same drills, KG wouldn’t want the outcome of it to be the same. During his time with the national team, one of their 1 on 1 drills led to a fight. He recalled,

“Bunch of sh*t-talking to whatever man. And me and Reef (Shareef Abdur-Rahim) almost got to fighting. Larry Brown had to take the ball…had to shut the gym down and get us out of there.” 

While such competitiveness is a must to win at the international level, team chemistry is equally important. Fans also wish to see the best of their stars together and win the country another gold.